The Love Square
by PhantomD
Summary: She wasn't sure when she'd starting falling for her partner, but the revelation one day made Marinette extremely uncomfortable.
1. Chapter 1

She wasn't sure when she'd starting falling for her partner, but the revelation one day made Marinette extremely uncomfortable. They had been partners for just over a year now and she had not thought about it in all that time. There was also the fact that her and Adrien were finally becoming closer once she stopped stuttering in front of him, but that left her wondering whether or not that was because she was starting to crush on Chat Noir instead. She shook her head and thought about how ridiculous that was. She was still madly in love with Adrien, just more comfortable around him. _Yea, that's it!_ she thought.

"So my lady, what's got you so spaced out this fine evening?" A voice from behind her said.

She jumped and gasped at the sudden interruption to her thoughts, but relaxed when she saw it was her feline friend. "Oh nothing Chat, just wondering when you'd show up. I've been waiting for what feels like _forever_."

"Fear not, for your cat has arrived to ease your worries."

"I wasn't worried, I was actually almost relieved I wouldn't have to suffer through your puns for a night. Guess the ladybug's good luck didn't work tonight." she shot back with a wink.

"You wound me." Chat grasped his chest like he'd been shot in the heart. Marinette, as Ladybug, stood up so they were as level as they could be considering their height difference. She was thankful that even though she'd realized she'd started to like him, she wasn't having the same stuttering problems she used to have with cute boys.

 _Did I just insinuate that this dork is cute? Damn, I must be in deeper than I thought._

"Was there any sign of activity on your way over here?" she asked.

"Nothing really, it's been pretty quiet today. Kind of a relief actually. Gives me more time to think about ways to woo you." He said with a playful wink in her direction.

"Oh yea?" she said and leaned in close to his face with a smirk. "Come up with any fun ideas?"

At this point, she was right up in his face, her own tilted to look up at him with her big blue eyes. He was actually at a loss for words for a second before she could vaguely make out his cheeks turning bright pink. He leaned back and lost his balance, falling back on the rooftop, barely catching himself on the edge.

"Oh, looks like neither of us has good luck tonight. Well, at least you caught yourself so I didn't have to come to your rescue like always!" She said, laughing, before taking his hand and helping him back onto the roof. She wasn't sure where all this confidence she had was coming from. _I think I'm starting to spend so much time with him, I'm starting to act like him._

"Very funny, but you should know better than anyone that I would have been fine. I do always land on my feet. As for your earlier question, I do have some fun ideas. One involves a romantic trip down the Seine, right as the Eiffel tower lights up. I know it's so cliché, but it never fails to impress."

She shook her head. "Do you take all the girls down the river for a romantic boat ride to woo them?"

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close, dipping her back so he was leaning close to her face and said, "You know I only have eyes for you my lady."

Her confidence suddenly vanished and she found herself tongue tied staring into his eyes. She could feel her face heating up as he said "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?". The smirk he wore faded and his eyes widened as he noticed the pink that dusted her cheeks.

"Ihavetogonowbye!" she said quickly and slipped from out of his arms, running across the rooftops before dropping down into an alley.

When Chat had finally recovered, he called "Wait my lady, come back!" before running off after her. He ran in the same direction but sighed heavily when he realized he'd lost her in the streets of Paris.

When Marinette came to school the next day, she was exhausted and anxious to say the least. The fact that she had potentially let it slip that Chat Noir was having an effect on her kept her up thinking about how awkward their next encounter was going to be. Then there was the whole ordeal with Adrien and whether or not she actually was losing interest. She received her answer when he walked into the classroom and waved at her with a beaming smile and her heart fluttered in her chest. _Nope, still extremely cute_ , she thought and smiled back albeit a bit weakly at him.

"Something wrong?" he asked her, smile turning to a frown of concern.

"Just a lot on my mind, so I was up too late last night." she said with a wave of dismissal. "You on the other hand look like nothing could go wrong with today."

"I think I figured something out and it's excellent news!"

"What would that be?"

Adrien blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it's not for sure yet, so I don't want to jinx it. I'm just happy that it's a possibility."

"Salut!" Nino said, walking into the classroom and ending Adrien and Marinette's discussion.

The teacher started the lesson not soon after, but Marinette found herself unable to pay much attention and instead started doodling in her sketchbook. Before she realized it, she had drawn out Chat Noir's costume but was having trouble getting features, like his hair right. Her eyes kept drifting back to Adrien's hair which so much like Chat's but also not at all. They were close in colour but while Adrien's was tamed and styled, Chat's was unruly and wild like the true tom cat he was. She found she had no problem with his eyes however, as they reminded her of the emerald decorations her dad would put on bejeweled cakes, that sparkled in the sunlight. She sighed at the realization that she had 100% developed feelings for him, more than platonically.

She hardly noticed when class was dismissed until she heard Adrien's voice say, "Wow that's really impressive Marinette. Looks so much like him. Although the hair is a little longer."

She looked up at him and then back down at her sketchbook before yelping and scrambling to put it in her bag. "It's nothing!" she said with nervous laughter.

"You capture his likeness really well! Especially the detailing on the leather cat suit and the mask. The mask is the most important part!"

Marinette blushed as his praise, but sighed. "Yea, the mask too important." she said quietly without thinking.

Adrien looked at her in confusion before she shook her head and said, "We'd better get to lunch, I'm sure Alya and Nino are waiting."

Later, after Ladybug and Chat Noir had heroically saved Paris from a particularly easy akuma (Marinette hadn't even needed to used her Lucky Charm) Marinette had tried to escape quickly as to not have to talk about what had happened the night before.

"Wait! Please, can we talk a minute?" Chat asked.

"Now isn't a great time, my miraculous is running out and I need to get home."

He raised an eyebrow (a difficult gesture while wearing a mask) and said, "You didn't use your lucky charm and I still have 3 dots. Humour me for a moment."

The flirtatious Chat Noir was gone for a moment, and she felt herself nodding. They sat on a rooftop, overlooking the Seine and she fidgeted nervously, waiting for him to speak.

"Listen, I know I flirt with you a lot and seem to be joking and you think that when I tell you my feelings I don't mean it but I do. I truly like you as more than just my partner. I think I may even love you."

Marinette gazed at the street below as his words sunk in. She knew how he really felt about her, even if she pretended to think that he was joking. She took a chance and looked up at him, only to find him looking more nervous than she had ever seen the usual happy-go-lucky boy, and gulped.

She opened her mouth to say something, but a beeping from her ears signaled she only had two dots left. She looked at him apologetically.

"It's alright, you don't need to answer. I just really wanted you to know that. Even if you don't return my feelings I still want to fight bad guys with you. After all, we are an excellent team.

"Thanks Chat. I wish we had more time to talk but I need to get going. Maybe if it's quiet one of these nights, I'll tell you what I was going to say, alright?"

He nodded and smiled that signature smile before running off in the opposite direction. Marinette sighed and used her yoyo to swing onto her roof before de-transforming and flopping down on her bed.

"Tikki, what am I going to do? Chat seemed so sincere tonight and I don't want to hurt him."

"I thought you said you liked him?" the small creature responded.

"I do, but I still really like Adrien, and it isn't fair to either of them."

"I'm not sure what to tell you Marinette."

The girl sighed and rolled over to look at her ceiling. "Well if I ever get the chance, I think I'll have to tell Chat the truth. I wonder if he'd still like me as plain old Marinette instead of the confident Ladybug."

Before Tikki could respond, Marinette's phone rang with the caller ID "Alya".

"Allo?" she answered into the phone.

"MARINETTE! You'll never guess what photo I got for my ladyblog!" her friend said excitedly on the other end.

Marinette rolled her eyes. "What did you get this time?"

"I just caught Ladybug and Chat Noir talking on a rooftop by the Seine. Now, normally this would be exciting on its own, BUT, the best part is that they seemed to be having a serious conversation. Plus they were both blushing so hard I could see it from across the river! I think he might have confessed his love for her. EEK!"

Tikki looked with amusement at the girl on the bed who's face become as red as her superhero costume.

"Uh, what makes you say that?" she managed to choke out.

"Call it a hunch! Although it doesn't seem like she got the chance to tell him back. She so obviously loves him I wonder why she didn't say so."

"Maybe because she doesn't know how to tell him since they've been partners for so long. You said it yourself, she seems to think he's over the top and a dork."

Alya giggled. "So? Teasing can be a sign of affection. She should just tell him! Give her the same advice I give you about Adrien."

"Ugh, don't remind me. I'm finally getting better at talking to him, trying to confess to him would be a disaster!"

"One of these days Marinette! Anyway, about the post for my ladyblog..."

Marinette dreaded the fact there hadn't been an attack all day. Not that she wasn't happy there weren't people in distress, but it had been a whole week since Chat Noir had "officially" confessed to her and she found herself falling harder than she would have like. Was it possible to be in love with two people at once?

They didn't always patrol when there wasn't an akuma attack, because real life intervened far too often, but she knew he would want to that evening. She tried to stay in her room the whole night. However, it was only 7pm and she had already finished her homework as well as cleaned her room and helped her parents with anything they needed to get done. She paced back and forth, trying to find something to do other than go out and make sure there weren't any akuma but she was just so bored.

"Just go. You'll feel better." Tikki told her.

She knew her kwami was right. The only way she would feel better is if she went for a run across the rooftops. And who is to say she would even run into Chat? Paris was a big city after all.

About 20 minutes later she cursed herself for even assuming he wouldn't find her. She had gone to one of their usual rooftops, a couple blocks down from the collège. They exchanged their usual pleasantries, Chat always the flirt before a silence fell between the two of them.

"Hey Chat, thanks for being sincere with me the other day by the way. It meant a lot."

"Anything for you."

"I also wanted to... answer you, I guess would be the best way to put it."

He looked steadily at her, green eyes searching for a clue to what she might be about to say. He looked worried at her expression however. "You don't feel the same way, do you?"

"No! It's not that at all! It's just... complicated. I do like you Chat, much more than I probably should considering..." she trailed off, trying to find the right words.

"Considering what?"

"Well the thing is, there's already someone in my regular life that I like. It's not fair to either of you that I feel this way, especially since I'd be hiding a huge part of me with either one of you." Her eyes became glassy and she willed herself not to cry. She was just confused and didn't know what to do. Her body betrayed her, and tears fell from her eyes. "I'm just... so frustrated that I can't figure out my own feelings. I don't want to hurt either of you."

"My lady..." Chat said and leaned over to hug her. She turned into the hug as silent sobs shook her frame in his arms. "Thank you for telling me. This guy in real life, he must be lucky to have you."

She choked out a laugh between sobs. "That's probably the worst part. He doesn't even know I like him. He hasn't told me if he does at least."

He pet her head until she calmed down, and pulled away to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry to unload this all on you Chat. I just can't talk to anyone else about this. Leading a double life is so hard, you know?"

Chat smiled sadly. "Yea, I know. It's hard when people don't know the whole you."

"I doubt you'd even like the real me."

"But this is the real you. You're the confident, funny, and sassy Ladybug I know. I say this because as Chat Noir I get to be the kind of person I always want to be. Bet you'd never guess that I'm reserved and compliant when I'm in the real world. But that's not really me. It's who I have to be to keep up appearances."

Marinette nodded and smiled. "Thank you so much. I don't deserve someone like you."

"That's where you're wrong. You deserve so much more. Maybe one day, I'll show you what I'm like in the real world and you'll change your mind about not deserving me."

"I don't know, I think you'd be a great guy either way." she replied and kissed him on the cheek. "It's getting late. I'll see you soon?"

"Of course, my lady."


	2. Chapter 2

Adrien was both ecstatic and upset over the conversation him and Ladybug had had the other day. She had finally admitted to liking him, but there was someone in her real life who she liked just as much. _If not more than me, judging by the way she talked_ , he thought. He wish he could know who she was in real life and maybe then he'd be able to win her over completely. He sighed at the thought as she told him more often than not that their identities were to remain a secret, and he deeply respected that wish. He knew they were important, but he would give anything to know who she really was.

"Adrien!" Plagg yelled in his ear.

"What?"

"Your phone has been going off for the last five minutes. It's Nino. He eventually texted you to remind you that you guys were supposed to meet twenty minutes ago."

Adrien leaped out of his chair, grabbing his phone before racing out the door. He had completely forgotten about it until then, so he shot a text off to his friend explaining that he'd be there as soon as he could.

When he arrived, only slightly out of breath, Nino just rolled his eyes and they made their way to the bakery owned by Marinette's parents to get some snacks for later. They'd fallen in love with their pastries after Tom Dupain came in with croissants that one day at school.

"So what's got you so out of it? You've been a spacecase the last few days." Nino asked while they walked.

Adrien sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just I got some really good news, but it was also kind of disappointing."

"Does it have to do with your dad? He's the only one who's caused you to be this way before."

Shaking his head, Adrien explained, "No it's not him. I didn't tell you this, but I confessed my feelings to the girl I like the other day."

"She rejected you? YOU?"

"Not exactly. We didn't have time to talk about it anymore at the time, but later on, she mentioned that she liked me too, but unfortunately there was someone else she liked as well and she didn't want to hurt either of us until she could decide."

"Dude, I'm sorry, that's a real bummer. But that gives you hope right? No one can compare to you with the ladies. I'm frankly a little jealous. I think she'll come around. Who is this mystery girl anyway? I haven't heard you speak about a girl you liked since - oh, you mean Ladybug. Dude, she likes you?"

"Shut up! I don't need everyone knowing that THE Ladybug turned me down."

"Sorry bro. Anyway, let's eat some sweets and we can play some video games until you forget about it for a while. I can see the bakery now!"

The two walked into the store and were greeted by Sabine Cheng, Marinette's mother.

"Hello there boys! Can I help you with anything?" she asked.

"No thanks Mrs. Cheng, we're just grabbing some stuff for later. Some croissants and macarons probably." Nino answered.

"Okay well I have to get to work on a special order, but Marinette will be down to mind the shop for a while so if you have any questions you can ask her."

"We will. Thank you!" Adrien replied.

She nodded and disappeared into the back room. Nino glanced at all the goods on the shelves and mumbled, "It's a wonder Marinette doesn't get fat with all the delicious stuff they have here."

"She's pretty athletic, I imagine she works it all off somehow." Adrien replied.

"I don't know if athletic is the word I'd used to describe her. You weren't around a few years ago when she totally face planted during volleyball."

"Okay, but she seriously rivalled me in gymnastics, and I like to think I'm pretty flexible. Almost as nimble as a cat." Adrien laughed at his own joke, even though Nino wouldn't get it.

"Hi, sorry there was no one here for a moment." Marinette said, donning an apron. When she noticed who was in the shop, her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed slightly. "Oh, hey there, didn't know it was you two. Can I uh... help you with anything?"

"As someone who's tried probably everything, what would you suggest for a snack that is delicious but easy enough to eat while gaming?" Nino asked.

Marinette thought for a moment before smiling and gesturing them over to a case on the other side. "While macarons are the obvious choice, I would suggest getting these! They're kind of like truffles but less rich so that you can eat more of them; perfect for snaking on. They're basically just chocolate balls, but some come with nuts, cream filling, all sorts of things! They're labelled down below so you can take a look and let me know which ones you'd like. I'll even give you guys a discount if you buy in bulk."

"Wow Marinette, you sure know a lot about this stuff. If you weren't aspiring to be a fashion designer, you'd be an excellent baker!" Adrien praised.

Marinette blushed again. "Thanks, I just grew up learning all this kind of stuff. It's nothing really."

Adrien smiled at her and couldn't help but notice how blue her eyes were, kind of like Ladybug's. The thought made him sigh however and he glanced over at Nino who was staring intently at all the flavours they had. He saw Marinette looking at his sudden change in demeanor and tried to perk himself back up a little to ease both her worried looks, as well as the ones his friend had given him earlier _. I wonder if Ladybug likes sweets_ , he thought. _Maybe I'll bring her some_.

Although things had been awkward between him and Ladybug at first after their heart to heart, their rhythm had returned and they were back to (mostly) flawlessly dealing with the akuma that threatened the city. However, that made it difficult for him to spend time trying to figure out who the boy Ladybug liked was. He wasn't even sure if he knew the guy, but a name would be a good place to start. He didn't want to come out directly and ask her, but he was getting desperate enough to do just that.

Thankfully, a few days later, he was able to figure it out.

There had been an akuma attack during lunch, another one caused by Chloe who had yet to understand what being kind was, and Adrien had been thrown into a picture of himself on a billboard a few blocks from the school. Ladybug had witnessed the whole thing and laughed at him, staring up at the picture of himself. Not that she knew that it was him.

"I didn't know that even the great Chat Noir was drawn to the irresistibility of Adrien Agreste." she said between giggles.

"You think I-he's irresistible?" he asked.

He could see her blush beneath the mask, and he suddenly remembered a moment a few months ago when she had come to him in his regular form at the start of an akuma fight. She had called him handsome as well as blushed when she picked him up and brought him to a safer place.

He could have laughed at the irony that she had fallen for him as two different people.

"We don't have time for this! LUCKY CHARM!" She called out and set up a trap while he distracted the student. After she purified the akuma and used miraculous cure, he caught up to her before she ran off. He only had two spots left but he needed to know.

"It's Adrien isn't it." At her confused expression, he continued, "Adrien. He's the other one you like, isn't he?"

Ladybug looked extremely surprised by his question, but wouldn't look him in the eye afterwards and he knew he was right. Her earrings beeped signalling she would detransform soon and she shot him a distressed look before running off.

He stood there, in an alleyway until his own transformation wore off, in shock that she was in love with him in both ways. _Do I know her in real life? How could I have missed that?_ he thought. Despite her not wanting to share their identities, he knew he'd have to if he ever wanted a chance with her. He just hoped that she would be accepting of his decision.

"Are you insane? You want to let your transformation wear off in front of her?" Plagg stared at the boy incredulously.

"Let me explain! It's for her benefit, easing her mind so she doesn't have to worry about picking between me and, well, me. I love her, Plagg, and if this can make her happy, I want to do it. It's up to her if she wants to show me her identity, but I've made my decision." Adrien replied firmly.

"Adrien, let me explain something to you. I've been around for several thousands of years, helping out many Chat Noir's over the years, some who have chosen to reveal their identities to Ladybug, some who chose not to, and some who had it happen accidentally. And over those decisions or not, the majority of them ended poorly. One of them actually ended up being taken over by Hawkmoth and killing Ladybug because of the heartache of her not reciprocating their feelings."

"This is different. I already knows she likes both sides of me. Plus, this is the twenty-first century, how many hundreds or thousands of years ago did that happen?"

Plagg looked away from him and mumbled, "It may have happened in the early thirteen hundreds..."

"My point exactly. I'm going to tell her that Chat Noir is really Adrien Agreste, and that's the end of it. Now come on, I've been mulling this over for a whole week and I need to talk to her before I explode. Plagg, transform-moi!" Adrien said and leapt from his balcony in search of his Ladybug.

"I still say this is a bad idea," Plagg said to him from his ring.

"We're different from any previous Ladybugs and Chat Noirs. Even if she rejects me, I won't let Hawkmoth taint me with darkness. I'm stronger than that. WE'RE stronger than that, Plagg. Maybe I'll try calling her and see if she's already in her miraculous form." Adrien said and pulled out his communication device.

It rang a few times and then a black screen came up with an answer of, "Hello? Chat? Is something wrong?"

"No, I was just wondering if you were out and about. Why can't I see you?"

"I'm not in my miraculous form right now. I'm just doing some homework right now, but I was going to go out and make sure things were alright soon. Can you wait a few minutes and I'll be out soon? Meet me at the bridge two blocks from the Dupain bakery." her voice said and she hung up.

"That's not too far from here, let's get going!" Adrien said and started jumping on rooftops to meet her at the bridge.

When he got there, he could see her running down the street not too far away and smiled when she came up to him. "So what's up? Anything new to report?" she asked.

"No I actually just wanted to talk to you. We haven't had much chance to after the akuma fights after all. Walk with me." he replied.

She raised her eyebrows but followed him anyway, and they made small talk until he turned them down an alleyway near the Eiffel tower and said "follow me" before jumping up to the top of the building. She yo-yoed her way to follow him and the two of them expertly scaled the landmark till they reached the top deck that most people weren't allowed to go on by normal circumstances.

"I thought your plan to woo me was a boat ride to see the Eiffel tower, not scaling it." she said, smirking. The smirk faded when she saw he was looking at her seriously, the usual traces of his smug silliness gone. The look was familiar to her, but she thought nothing of it.

"Well that was the original plan, but then I found out that the boy you liked in your real life was Adrien Agreste, and I had to step up my game. Can I ask how you know him?"

"I'd rather not answer, or talk about it all to be honest."

"We need to talk about it. You don't have to tell me how, but I'd like to tell you something important. I brought you up here so you couldn't run away so easily, this is something we need to talk about afterwards."

She gulped and nodded her head slowly, suddenly very aware of how thin the air was at the top of the tower. "Is something wrong? You're being very serious and cryptic."

"Nothing is wrong per se, but I want to tell you now, that I'm going to undo my transformation in a minute."

She looked very panicked. "Chat no! We talked about this, and I'm not comfortable with it at all!"

"You don't have to show me who you are if you don't want to, but this is something I need to do in order for me to be happy. And I'm hoping that if I'm right in doing this, you'll be happy as well." He took her hands in his and looked straight into her eyes. "We've been partners for this long, so I need you to trust me. You do trust me, right?"

"More than anyone, but this is completely different!"

"Please my lady, just... _trust me._ "

"Alright. If this is what you want, I won't stop you. Can I ask why though?"

Adrien smiled. "You'll understand afterwards." Still holding onto her hands, he thought about Plagg leaving the ring and undoing his transformation. In a flash of white light, Adrien stood before Ladybug as himself. He noticed her eyes were closed however.

"Please my lady, open your eyes."

And she did.


	3. Chapter 3

When Ladybug opened her eyes, none other than Adrien Agreste was standing in front of her, and all she could do at first was blink. Adrien turned red under the stare of his partner, wanting her to react other than the surprised stare she was giving him.

She opened her mouth to say something, which relieved him a bit, but then she closed it and walked over to a beam and sat down, dropping her head in her hands.

"My... lady?" he asked hesitantly, sitting down next to her. She was shaking her head and surprised him by throwing her head back and reaching for the sky.

"You have no idea how ridiculous this is. I fell in love with two people and they turn out to be the same person. I can't decide whether I'm on cloud nine or falling into hell."

"I'm sorry if this made you upset. I thought... I thought this would make you happy."

"Oh Chat... Adrien... I am. You don't understand how much my heart has loosened knowing that I don't have to hurt someone to love you."

Adrien looked at her face, which betrayed the fact that there was something more than just happiness and relief. "But?"

She sighed. "But I still can't accept your feelings. While I love both sides of you, you only love the me that is Ladybug."

"I know I could learn to love all of you." Adrien said, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear.

"I'm not so sure. I fell in love with Adrien Agreste, wonderful boy who cares for his friends, with a poor parental relationship that doesn't stop him from being a good person. Then I fell for Chat Noir, one of my best friends and partners who likes to make cat jokes and always has my back. You fell for ladybug, the confident hero of Paris. The real me couldn't talk to cute boys, only has one best friend and is hated by a girl she didn't do anything to aside from try to be a good person. Someone you only saw as a girl who was scared of you.

"I'm worried that if I tell you who I am in your real life, you'll start confusing the two and not like the real me the way I want you to. Maybe one day, I'll think that you could one hundred percent love both parts and we can talk about it again."

Adrien let out a small laugh and shook his head. "You're too good for me, and I must be an idiot for not having noticed you. We go to school together don't we?" At the look of alarm on her face he continued, "Don't worry, I don't know who you are, I just had a hunch about it. I don't get out much otherwise and you seem to know me more than just as a fan."

"Well you're right. We do attend the same collège, but that's all you get to know. Thank you for understanding, and I'll always have your back. Will you still have mine?"

They both stood up and he took her hand, kissing the back of it. "Always."

Marinette spent another night without sleeping, her eyes not wanting to dry up the tears that had they had shed moments after she watched Adrien leave. She truly was happy that the boy she had been pining after since the moment he walked into the classroom after having been homeschooled for years had finally fallen for her, she was just upset it was the wrong her. For a split second after he revealed himself to her, she deeply considered showing him who she was and they could potentially live happily ever after with their three children and hamster, but she knew that it wouldn't have been as happy as she had envisioned.

She couldn't stop herself from sighing, and nearly choked on her own spit when Alya whispered, "Adrien's here" the following morning at school.

He waved to her and Alya with a weak smile that she could only assume mirrored her own. She waved back meekly, but immediately looked down at her notebook and pretended to scribble something down. He didn't seem to notice the odd reaction and went over to talk to Nino.

"What the heck was that?" Alya whispered to her.

"What do you mean?"

Her friend raised an eyebrow. "Normally you're excited to see him at all hours of the day and that was the most pathetic display of a hello I've ever seen. That's after the whole six months you could barely talk to him."

"I can't explain it to you, it's too complicated."

"Ohoho! Did something happen between the two of you? He looks a little downtrodden himself."

Marinette shook her head. "Please drop it Alya."

Alya was taken aback by her cold reaction, and opted to leave it alone for the time being.

Marinette sighed again. "I'm sorry for snapping. I barely slept last night." Then she had an idea. "I actually have something you can do for me, and it may take a long time as well as all of your journalistic snooping skills."

Alya raised an eyebrow, but nodded none the less. "What can I help you with?"

"I need you to honestly try and find out how Adrien feels about me."

"Marinette..."

"Just hear me out, this is really important. I know that I've wanted to know for a while, but I need you to get Nino to help you with this. If you can't find anything out, that's fine but for my own sanity, please help me?"

Alya smiled and said, "You're one determined girl, you know that."

"Maybe one day I'll explain this to you and it will all make sense."

Adrien had not gotten any sleep that night either, mind wide awake going through all the girls he knew at school who could be his Ladybug. He had already ruled Chloe out due to the unfortunate Lady WiFi incident, which didn't help him as there were 42 other females in his grade and he couldn't even be sure that the two of them were the same age. She could be a year down or even a year up, which expanded the range he had to search exponentially.

He couldn't believe he didn't know her well enough to know who she could possibly be in their real lives, especially since it seemed like they knew each other more than just passing in the hall. Her eyes were such a beautiful shade of blue, he thought that'd he be able to recognize them anywhere. He sighed and thought about what she had said the night before. _Maybe I am blinded by her superhero persona_ , he thought. _Maybe I'll ask Marinette and Alya who they think Ladybug is, they're usually pretty perceptive._

"This is why I prefer cheese to girls," Plagg said, in noticing Adrien's change in demeanour.

When he arrived at school, Chloe tried to kiss him as per usual, which he expertly avoided before ducking into the classroom. Alya and Marinette were already in their seats and looking at him as he came in, so he waved. Alya smiled and waved back, but her seat mate only gave a little wave before returning to her notes. He shrugged when they started whispering to each other and walked over to where Nino was talking with Kim and Rose. They were discussing a movie Adrien had yet to see because his father thought it was too "inappropriate" so he tuned them out and opted to look around at his classmates. His eyes kept zeroing in on the two girls who were whispering intently with each other. It looked like Alya thought whatever Marinette was saying was crazy, and at one point her eyes flickered over to him before going back to their conversation.

"Adrien?" Nino asked, snapping him out of his daydreaming.

"Yea?" he replied and noticed that Kim and Rose weren't there anymore.

"I said your name three times. What's got your attention so much that you didn't hear me?" Nino followed his gaze to the two girls. "Moving on from your heartbreak so soon? Good on you dude."

"What are you talking about?"

"Marinette is cute dude, and I've seen you eyeing her from time to time. Unless you're looking at Alya and in that case, I'd like to remind you that I've been trying to get her to go out with me for a month now."

"Marinette?" Adrien repeated and took a good look at her. Nino was right, she was pretty cute, the chinese-french mix working out well, giving her porcelain skin and beautiful dark hair. "Hm, I guess I never really noticed that I was doing that..."

"Nothing cures heartbreak like new love!" his friend exclaimed and clapped him on the back. "Although it may be too soon for the whole 'love' thing. But you might as well get to know her more before making that decision."

"Ladybug already has my heart, but I supposed it wouldn't hurt to get to know her better. She's really opened up to us since when I first came here."

"Dude, I know you're not new anymore, but I'm pretty sure I've told you before that she was never that quiet to begin with. That was just you, but I can't blame her. Being a model is intimidating."

Adrien thought about that and shrugged. "Well as long as she's not scared of me now. Makes it less awkward to have someone to talk to while Alya continuously shoots you down."

"She'll say yes one of these days. Her responses have gone from 'no' to 'maybe' which makes me hopeful. I think she's just more interested in Ladybug and Chat Noir right now. She thinks they're secretly dating, which would be a total bummer for you."

"They aren't." Adrien said immediately.

"Touchy subject, I get that."

"Come on, class is about to start."

Adrien couldn't get the comment Nino had made out of his head even a week later. Sure, he'd always seen Marinette as pretty, but he started noticing more things about her. Small things he hadn't noticed before, like her laugh when Alya or Nino told a joke, how she hung onto every word whoever was talking to her said, making them know she was listening intently, but most of all, how she got a soft look on her face when she thought no one was looking. He wished he could be the one to sit behind her so he could observe these things without being obvious, but to Nino it had become as such.

Marinette hadn't noticed much of a change in him, but she attributed it to the fact she was now seeing both sides of him in one instead of being just Adrien or just Chat. She sighed as she sketched while the teacher handed out some marked assignments and looked up to where she usually saw the back of Adrien's head but to her surprise, she ended up looking at his face.

He turned away quickly when she noticed him looking at her, and she cocked her head. "What's up?" she leaned over and asked.

"N-nothing! Just wanted to see what you were up to. You've been really quiet today."

"Oh, I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"Yea I know what you mean. It's been a crazy few weeks, hasn't it?"

She sighed internally, knowing it was her fault he may think that way. "It really has. I've barely had any time to do some designing what with school and stuff."

Adrien nodded his agreement. "We should do something this weekend, you, me, Nino, and Alya. Just the four of us."

She glanced over at the two in question who were having their own conversation. "Maybe Alya will finally say yes to him and we can stop forcing them into situations together."

He leaned even closer to her to whisper, "Why hasn't she said yes yet, anyway?"

"She really wants to focus on her hobbies right now. Aka the Ladyblog. I keep telling her she'd have time for both since he's really good at capturing people on film and would make a good partner, but she just waves me off." she whispered back.

"I think it's about time she said yes."

"Maybe we should help them along?"

Adrien smiled a real smile for the first time in what felt like forever and nodded before the teacher shushed the class to get back to the lesson.

Marinette smiled back before he turned around. _What am I thinking? I just broke his heart, I shouldn't be trying to get closer to him like this on purpose. He's supposed to come to me. Although I suppose all of us going out this weekend was his idea. Maybe I'll indulge myself in this fantasy of him falling for me for a little while..._ she thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Marinette had to admit, this plan they had come up with was brilliant. Alya and Nino hadn't suspected a thing, and seemed even more excited when Adrien and Marinette insisted on sitting next to each other at the movie they'd gone to see, so their friends would be forced to sit with each other. It was only the first phase of their "Weekend of Fun" as they'd named it (neither of them were very creative in the naming of it) but easily the most important. Alya was sitting next to Marinette with Nino on her other side, giving her optimal view of the goings on, as well as giving her a push.

They even split up the popcorn appropriately, hoping to get them to touch hands, like they did in the movies. Unfortunately, Marinette ended up touching Adrien's hand in the same manner before the movie had even started.

"Oops, sorry." she whispered.

He just smiled and gestured to their friends who were quietly arguing over where to put their own popcorn. She giggled when they finally decided that Nino would hold it, Alya sighing in defeat.

The movie started not long after that, an action-filled superhero movie that Alya and Nino had insisted they see since it reminded them so much of their personal heroes, both of whom were sitting right next to them. Marinette could only roll her eyes at how ridiculously inaccurate they portrayed secret identities. It wasn't quite that hard to find places to transform, but if you got thrown that hard into a building, superhero powers or not, it was going to leave a bruise the next day. Adrien was thinking the same thing, and subconsciously rubbed his arm where an akumatized person had thrown a medicine ball at him a week beforehand. He lightly bumped Marinette's arm in the process and she recalled them same moment, frowning at it and looking at him sadly. He noticed her looking at him, and dropped his arm, smiling at her instead. She gave him one final glance before turning her attention to their friends whose knees were touching as they whispered about something. She could see Alya blushing slightly when she noticed Marinette looking at her, and moved away from Nino to pay attention to the movie.

When the movie was over, the four of them made their way to the food court in the theatre to grab dinner, again Marinette slid into the seat next to Adrien before either of their friends could move. When their feet bumped under the table, her heart skipped a beat and she had to remind herself that this was for Alya and Nino's benefit and she needed to keep her head in the game. Nino spent half of their meal trying to flirt with her, while she attempted to keep a conversation up with Marinette.

"There's no way that she would have gotten back up so quickly after getting thrown into that building. She doesn't have super strength or super healing, so she would have broken at least a rib." Marinette argued.

"She's right Alya, you'd be in rough shape after something like that." Adrien added.

Alya shook her head. "But they're superheroes! They're a little more resilient than us normal folk."

"They're still people." Adrien said.

"Bro, it's a movie, but I've seen real heroes like Ladybug get hit pretty hard and get back up afterwards." Nino countered.

Marinette winced at the memories of being hit with and thrown into things. Adrien had a rebuttal first however. "Sure, but that's the adrenaline. I guarantee you, the next day they're taking heavy duty painkillers just to make it through the day. They have real lives too you know."

"Don't we! I want to know who they are so badly!" Alya gushed.

"Maybe we should team up and try to figure it out," Nino suggested.

"I work best alone."

"Alya, he's got a point. He's good with a camera, you could totally get closer with his help." Marinette added. Her friend looked at said boy, who was smiling hopefully at her and she sighed.

"Fine, I guess you can try and help me with it. Just know that I don't have room for slackers. My ladyblog won't run itself!"

Marinette and Adrien fist bumped under the table, and she flinched, hoping Adrien wouldn't sense the familiarity of the action. He didn't seem to take a second to think about it however, as the topic of conversation changed.

Later that night, Tikki was sitting watching from her hiding place as Marinette and Alya talked and watched a movie in Marinette's bed. She liked Alya a lot, but it was sometimes boring to not be able to float around her room freely. She was just drifting off into a nap when she sensed Plagg not too far from them. She waited for a particularly loud scene in their movie and flew out the window to see where he could be.

"Shouldn't you be with Adrien?" she asked him. He was sitting on the railing of Marinette's rooftop terrace, tail swishing back and forth.

"We need to talk about that actually."

"Please tell me you haven't told him."

Plagg scoffed. "Of course not. You know I stopped caring about the relationships between Chat Noir and Ladybug centuries ago. I only look out to make sure my chosen is well looked after."

Tikki took a seat next to him on the railing. "So why are you here? Normally you never come to see me of your own free will. Not that I'm complaining, I've missed you."

"You see me almost every day."

"Not in this form though. Not when we can talk just the two of us."

"I'm not sure what compelled me to come over here. It's not the first time that the normal lives of our chosen have been so close, but this time feels different. I've not cared for a chosen this much since... the incident."

Tikki took in a sharp breath. "You know that was not your fault. Bad luck or not, nothing could have stopped that. It was your chosen's decision to sacrifice himself for her."

"But that's the problem. Why do almost all my chosen have to love yours so fervently?"

"Fate I suppose. I have a feeling our chosen would come together at some point or another without our intervention. I'm worried about Marinette however. Adrien's decision seems to be taking a heavy toll on her."

Plagg sighed. "I told him not to do it. I could tell he was starting to notice her as Marinette instead of Ladybug beforehand, and wanted him to wait till he was starting to fall for her before he revealed himself."

"I think that would have made it harder for him to do. If he started to notice her before, then I think we have a good chance he'll fall for her anyway."

Plagg shuffled closer to her and took her hand in his. "I have missed you too. How many Ladybugs and Chat Noirs has it been since we were able to be together all the time?"

Tikki giggled. "It was only two before this. For how long we've been around, that shouldn't seem like so much time."

"You're just lucky I have camembert. My only other true love."

If Tikki could turn any redder than she already was, she was sure that it would be at that moment. "This will be the one, I'm sure of it. We can be together again soon, but for now, you should return to Adrien before he notices you're gone."

"Just a little longer. Who knows how long it will really be until we're together, and besides, Adrien and Nino are talking too much about Marinette and Alya. It's sickening. I don't think I would ever be into love if you weren't my perfect match."

"Thank goodness for that then," Tikki replied rolling her eyes but she leaned against him, reveling in the feeling of being together again, if even just for a short time.

The following day, the four of them met up again even though Marinette and Adrien's plan had worked. They already had the whole weekend planned out so they saw it as an opportunity to actually relax. They decided to head to the shopping centre for the day, as Alya insisted on checking out the new Ladybug and Chat Noir lines that they had brought out. Marinette watched as Adrien smiled knowingly at the garments, and grabbed one of the ladybug scarves they had, wrapping it around his neck.

"So, could I pull of the ladybug look well?" he asked the three of them.

"I think the mysterious Chat Noir would suit you better." Alya answered

Marinette noticed him stiffen slightly so she added, "I don't know, Adrien looks like the kind of guy who could pull off the black polka dots."

He smiled at her and she picked up her own accessory from the table, a black collar with a small gold bell and wrapped it around her own neck. "What do you think? Would I make a cute kitty cat?"

Adrien blushed and attempted to answer but just stuttered instead. Nino clapped him on the back. "Looks like he thinks you'd make an excellent Chat Noir there Mari!"

Marinette blushed a little herself and all of them laughed as they tried on different pieces of the collection, her avoiding Ladybug as much as possible and she noticed Adrien was steering clear of the Chat Noir stuff himself.

"Adrien, tell your dad that this was the best idea he came up with for a department store line ever! People are gonna go crazy about this stuff on the Ladyblog!" Alya said.

"It wasn't one of his ideas, but it's great that he approved it. He's thinking of making some high end stuff for it as well, as far as I've been told." he replied. He then mumbled to himself, "which of course means I'll have to model it."

Marinette caught that last part he'd said and smirked knowingly, hoping that he wouldn't have to wear any of their masks. She looked back down at the collar she'd picked up and decided that she would buy it, even if she never wore it, as well as a purse with little cat ears, the perfect size for Tikki.

Adrien couldn't help but notice Marinette's purchases being only Chat Noir things which confused him. She was always acting very standoff-ish around him when he had talked to her as his alter ego, so why would she be going for that stuff when he knew she always talked about Ladybug as if they were friends?

"Not going to get anything to do with Ladybug? She's pretty great too you know." he asked her.

She jumped a little at his proximity, but looked at her purchases and seemed to stop and think for a moment. "Ladybug is great, but she always gets all the attention, and I think that Chat deserves some every now and then, don't you?"

He raised his eyebrows at her, but smiled none the less. "While you're probably right, I think she deserves all the attention she gets, she is the saviour of Paris."

"She wouldn't be able to do nearly as much without him, I think. Who else is going to distract the villain while she thinks of a way to use her Lucky Charm? Or who will throw himself unnecessarily into danger to save her?"

"I don't think it's unnecessary. He just doesn't want to see her get hurt."

"Do you think she wants to see her partner get hurt either?" She said and turned to the cashier to finish paying for her things. He knew she was always a nice girl, but he was beginning to see that she cared for people much more than he had originally thought.


	5. Chapter 5

"Tikki?" Marinette called out from her bed, a couple nights later. Normally the kwami was fast asleep in a makeshift bed on her night table, but she woke up to find her small friend nowhere near her. "Where are you?"

She stood up and walked to look over the loft that held her bed and noticed her window was open just a crack so she went up to the door to the roof and cracked it open, looking for any sign of Tikki. Opening it up all the way, she climbed outside shivering in the cold night air. There, she saw the kwami sitting on the railing and looking up at the moon.

"What are you doing out here? It's late." Marinette said, snapping Tikki out of her thoughts.

"I was just thinking about Ladybug. Something reminded me of all the previous ones recently."

"Well I bet none of them were as fantastic as me!"

Tikki smiled. "Nope, you're one of a kind Marinette. As were all of them."

"Do you ever miss them?"

"Of course, I spent countless years of their lives with most of them. Some were too short lived however."

Marinette noticed that Tikki's eyes were shiny with unshed tears and she felt a pang of sadness for her friend. She could only imagine how hard it must be to continue living and watch each and every Ladybug die for one reason or another. She wondered if Chat's kwami held the same regards for their previous Chats. Picking Tikki up, Marinette held her close and wished more than anything that she could comfort her in some other way. She hoped that she could live up the expectations of the previous wielders of the miraculous, making Tikki proud and give them as much time together as possible.

"I promise that I'll do my best as Ladybug. We'll defeat Hawkmoth for good this time, so hopefully you won't have to watch any more of us die unnecessarily."

"Oh Marinette, you're so sweet. I may be the one to give you the ladybug's good luck, but you have a special type of luck all your own."

"I hope that's enough to save Paris. Let's get back to bed, alright?" Marinette asked and Tikki nodded her head before they headed back inside.

After their "double date" the other weekend, Adrien couldn't get Marinette out of his head. She was so different with him that weekend and he liked the way he was finally able to get to know her a bit better.

The class had a study period to catch up on work for other courses, but most of the students used it as a free period to chat and catch up with classmates. Nino and Alya were chatting about where the best place to catch a sight of Ladybug would be, and Adrien just rolled his eyes listening to them argue-flirt. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Marinette had her sketchbook out again, but the page she had open was blank. Instead, she was looking out the window and seemed to be lost in thought, giving him an opportunity to really look at her features.

He had never noticed that she held some resemblance to Ladybug, but he felt that was mostly to do with the fact she wore pigtails and had the same colour hair. Her face was mostly expressionless, but there held something in her eyes he couldn't put his finger on. He felt a pair of eyes on him and looked over to see Chloe seething with anger that he wasn't paying attention to her. He paid her no mind and realized that he had been staring at her for a whole five minutes without her noticing.

 _Crap, I guess Nino was right. How can I let my feelings for Ladybug waver like this?_ he thought.

Marinette was also lost in thought about the whole secret identity dilemma. _Maybe I should just tell Adrien who I am. He seems to be opening up to the me that is just Marinette, and he was always nice to me when he was Chat._ She turned to her sketchbook, the page that was open still empty. _So much for doing any work._

"Hey, Marinette, how's the drawing going?" Nathanaël asked her, breaking her out of her thoughts. As a fellow artist, she was sure he'd understand her frustration of not being able to get anything done.

"Not so great. I have some ideas, but they just aren't flowing right now."

"Can I take a look?" he asked. She pushed her sketchbook over to him, showing him the last thing she was working on. "It looks great as usual, but if I may, it looks like the proportions are a little off. The arms need to fall here..."

Marinette listened intently to the pointers on poses and the human anatomy he was giving her so she could get the clothes to sit even better on her drawn out models. Adrien watched them with interest, wishing she could be that animated about things when it was just the two of them. She nodded along to what he was saying and even let him sketch something out. Her smile grew and she took it back to finish up whatever Nathanaël had started. He could see the boy blushing at her praise for his help, and the scene made Adrien's stomach turn, and his hands clenched into fists. He noticed, and loosened his grip on the pencil he was holding, looking at it in confusion. Why did he feel so upset that she was praising him? She had definitely warmed up to him, but she had never gotten such a genuine reaction out of her when he spoke. He wanted the girl who he met as Chat to come out when he was just Adrien.

He frowned, gaining the attention of Nino and Alya who watched his reactions to the scene unfolding in front of him. He didn't understand why he was feeling this way, she was his friend and was free to speak to anyone she wished. He just wished that she would speak to him.

"Something bothering you Adrien?" Alya whispered down to him.

The three of them shifted away from Marinette for a moment and he replied in a hushed tone. "How come Marinette is always so shy around me? I've seen her be very outspoken but the second we're even remotely alone, she just seems to shut down."

Alya gave Nino a knowing look and he responded, "Glad after all this time you're finally realizing this. She's intimidated by you. You are THE Adrien Agreste after all."

Adrien furrowed his brows in confusion. "I figured that novelty would have worn off by now. It's been almost two years since I started coming here."

"And in that time, she's definitely come a long way, but I think that she's just still a little shy around you. She used to have a huge crush on you, it was pretty obvious." Alya stated.

 _Now that made a lot of sense,_ Adrien thought. Then something it him, "Wait, did you say used to?"

"Well to be honest, she probably still does, but lately it seems her heart has been elsewhere."

Nino nodded in agreement. "Well at least that saves you the trouble from having to let her down easy. As someone who recently got rejected, you should know how awful that can be."

"Wait whoa, back up! Adrien got rejected?" Alya said, a little too loudly. Thankfully, no one heard, except Marinette, but none of them noticed that Nathanaël had wandered off and she was listening in to their conversation.

"Nino! I thought I told you that I didn't want anyone to know that!"

"It's just Alya, she'd be bound to figure it out eventually."

"By who?" she asked.

Marinette sighed as she already knew the answer to that and left her seat to go and join Nathanaël, under the guise of asking him another question.

Adrien sighed. If he didn't tell her, Nino was sure to. "Just promise me you won't post this on your blog."

"WHAT?" Alya exclaimed. A few people looked over and she whispered to him, "wait, does that mean that you got rejected by Ladybug? Why didn't you tell me you knew her?"

"I don't really. I found her on patrol the other day and asked her out. She declined. Nothing more to it." he replied and looked back to where Marinette had been sitting, and noticed she was gone. He saw her talking with Nathanaël again, that feeling creeping back up in him.

"Dude, why do you have that look on your face again."

Adrien turned back around and sighed. "I don't know, I'm just wary of her being over there with him after the whole Evillustrator thing."

"She already turned him down you know." Alya said. That knowledge made the knot in his stomach loosen a little, but he still gave them one more glance. "Well I wonder if she rejected you because she's really in love with Chat Noir. I know I posted on my blog that it looked like he got rejected, but since then they've still been pretty close."

"She isn't." Adrien said with a sigh.

"What makes you say that?" Nino asked.

He was suddenly on high alert, having realized what he had just said. "Well uh, because... I asked her! Yea, when she turned me down, I asked her if it was because of him and she told me that it wasn't like that between them. As much as he wishes it was." He said, mumbling the last part.

"That's a bummer, but maybe she just said that to keep them a secret? There's total chemistry between the two of them. Chat is too charming for her to say no."

Adrien perked up. She was right, Chat _was_ pretty charming so maybe if he visited _Marinette_ as Chat, she would open up to him more.

Later that night, Adrien jumped of his balcony as Chat Noir, and leapt across the city until he was facing the Dupain Bakery. He knew from previous experience that hers was the top and he briefly considered jumping in through the window that he could see was open, but opted for knocking on the door to her terrace. He could hear her yelp of surprise and stifled his laughter. She opened the door hesitantly, poking her head out. She yelped again and almost fell down her stairs, but Chat's reflexes were too fast and he grabbed her arm.

"Falling for me so soon?" he quipped.

Marinette's look of surprise turned quickly to an eye roll and she pulled her arm out of Chat's grasp. "I wouldn't have almost fallen if you hadn't scared me half to death. What are you even doing here?"

"Can't I check up on my princess every once and a while?" he said innocently.

She raised an eyebrow. Why was Adrien doing this? _He can't have figured out who I am so quickly, what does he want from me?_ she thought. Out loud she said, "It's been quite a while since you last came here."

"I thought I'd check up and see how you were doing." Chat said in a much more Adrien like fashion than usual. Or she was just starting to notice how much they overlapped anyway.

"Well I'm doing fine." she replied. For some reason, knowing he was Adrien didn't make it hard for her to talk to him in costume. She was relieved at this and asked, "Is something bothering you? You seem a little down tonight, and I doubt you're here for a visit without reason."

"Actually, I did just come by to see you. I enjoyed our conversations in the past very much, and decided I would like to talk to you more. That being said, I have recently had some... _difficult_ moments to deal with. But I won't bore you with details."

"If something is bothering you, I don't mind listening. I'm not gonna go run and tell Alya about it so she can post on her blog."

Chat laughed. "I wouldn't think you too, but maybe later. Right now, I'd much prefer to talk about something less depressing."

Marinette nodded and tried to think of something that might cheer him up, even if she was sure that it was her fault he was like this. "I'm working on something new, would you like to take a look?"

Chat cocked his head in interest, and she gestured him to follow her inside. He had been inside her room before, but things were slightly more haphazard than the last time. There was sewing equipment strewn over most of the surfaces, as if she had been in the zone.

"My parents are out right now, so you don't have to worry about them coming up here. Sorry for the mess by the way."

"Not at all. I feel like I interrupted you."

She pondered this statement for a moment but shook her head. "I think I needed a break anyway. I've kind of been in a state of forgetting anything but doing work to try and distract myself."

"Something bothering you?"

"I guess you could say that." she said and her eyes flickered to him and quickly away. This didn't go unnoticed by him, but she continued talking before he could think about it. "This is the stuff I'm working on right now."

He followed her hands which were pointing to her sketchbook and the item lying next to it. "Is that a... rain coat?"

"Yup! It's for Alya, gonna be a Ladybug themed rain jacket for her birthday, it's in a couple weeks." She replied and Adrien stored that information in his head to make sure he got her a gift soon. "I'm working on some other stuff at the same time, but this is my main focus. That's why there's fabric everywhere, I kind of dropped everything to work on this."

He nodded along and realized he never knew how much work Marinette put into this. He saw the craftsmanship of the hat she designed for his dad's contest, and knew she had put effort in, but after having seen some of the designers in his life, he had forgotten what pure love someone could have for the work.

Marinette watched Chat, who had fallen silent to look at her things. She tried to figure out why he had really come here, to see her of all people. She knew Adrien had been paying closer attention to her, but Alya had confided in her, telling her that Nino had offhandedly made a remark to him about her. At that moment she also remembered how Alya had told Adrien about mega crush she used to have on him, and her cheeks went up in flames.

Chat turned around to make a comment about her work, but noticed her standing there, blushing furiously, trying to avoid his gaze. "Uh, Marinette? Are you alright?"

She squeaked, "I'm fine! I uh, I j-just, umm..." but she couldn't come up with anything. He looked at her and was reminded briefly of the way Ladybug looked when he realized he had been having an effect on her.

"It's alright, I know I can have this affect on people." he said, walking towards her and wiggling his eyebrows.

Marinette's blush deepened and she whacked him on the arm. "Stupid cat!"

He laughed and apologized. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."

"Jeez, you're such a flirt."

He stopped laughing and sighed. "So my lady keeps telling me."

"Hey, as much as I love your company, I should get back to work so I can actually sleep at a normal time. Besides, I'm sure you have patrol or something tonight."

"This is true, but it's just me tonight which isn't as much fun. But I'll leave you to your work. Thanks for entertaining me for a while."

Marinette smiled. "Any time. Come on, I'll see you out."

They both went outside and Chat saluted her before jumping onto the railing. Just as he was about to head out, he stopped and jumped down, back in front of Marinette. "Just one more question. Do you think it's possible to be in love with two people at once?"

Shocked by this sudden question and what he could mean by that she answered, "I think it could be. Alya is always telling me that at least. Why, has someone caught your eye aside from Ladybug?"

"I'm starting to think that someone from my real life has slipped from my attention until recently. However, my lady will always hold my heart. Goodnight princess."

She watched him leave and sighed heavily. Tikki came out from her bedroom and sat on Marinette's shoulder. "This is good! I think he means you!"

"It sounds too good to be true." Marinette said sadly and returned to her room, but went to bed instead of back to work.


	6. Chapter 6

Relentless. That was the only word Adrien had that day to describe the way Nino was being. It was beginning to get to be a bit much honestly. He had noticed that Adrien's face flushed a little when Marinette had done something cute (which apparently was what Nino described her giggling to be) and would not leave him alone about the crush he was developing on her. So what if he thought her to be adorable? A small crush was not something Nino should be getting this worked up about. Of course it only became worse when Alya was informed of this. Wasn't that breaking the dude code or something? He hadn't even confirmed this "crush" with either of them, and aside from the occasional blush, they were acting like he was madly in love with her.

The part that bothered him the most was that he _did_ have a crush on her. While he knew that his heart would forever belong to Ladybug, his mind wandered often to the deep blue eyes of his classmate and friend. Especially in the last week when she had been able to look him in the eye and speak to him normally like he's wanted her to since he came to the school. Not that she wasn't adorable when she tripped over her words, but he found that this new side to her was strong and overall endearing. He was ripped from his thoughts when the same girl he'd just been thinking about approached him.

"Hey Adrien?" Marinette asked. "Can we talk?"

"Sure Marinette, what's on your mind?" he replied with a smile.

"Look, I know we only just started to get to know each other better, but there's something I really need to talk to you about. Can we go somewhere a little more private?"

He furrowed his brows in confusion but nodded and followed her. She led him to a secluded hallway with no one down it, as most students left school for the lunch hour. She fidgeted awkwardly with one of her pigtails when she'd come to a halt, and Adrien cocked his head to the side, unsure of what she needed to talk to him about.

"Listen Adrien, I want to tell you something, but I need you to stay and listen to me the whole way through alright?"

He nodded again, and tried to decipher the look she had one her face. It was one similar to something his lady would do, but before he had time to think any longer on it, she looked up at him with her big blue eyes and started to say, "Adrien, I'm actually -" but was cut off by screams coming from the school courtyard.

"OF COURSE!" she cried. "Of course this would happen of all times."

"Marinette, stay here!" he called back to her, already halfway down the hallway.

"Like hell!" she called back, running after him.

He looked back at her, fire in her eyes and he was surprised she was running head first into danger. He tried to run faster to find somewhere to transform, but Marinette seemed to know his movements just before he did.

"Marinette, you need to go! Get to safety."

"Adrien there's no way. I know you're Chat Noir, so transform so you can stop trying to lose me and actually save the kid!"

"You what?" he asked. She knew he was Chat? How did she figure it out? He knew she was right though, he needed to transform and help Ladybug whenever she got on the scene. He transformed quickly, just in time for the akumatized student to plow through the wall.

"I AM LE CHEVEULIER AND ITS TIME FOR A TRIM!"

"Cheveulier? Well, I guess it's better than Mr. Pigeon." Adrien said, getting up after being blown back. To Marinette, he said, "We'll talk about this later. Go get to safety."

"But Chat-"

"GO!" he cried and Marinette watched in horror as the akuma grabbed him - was that her hair? - and flung him against the wall.

"CHAT!"

Le Cheveulier grinned as Chat got up from her attack, barely managing to deflect the piece of hair that snapped out at him. He found a broken piece of glass from the window and picked it up, swinging it at the next piece of hair that came for him, hoping to stop it in its tracks. While in theory his idea was good, in reality the hair smashed right through it and hit him in the chest.

"Nice try, but my hair is uncuttable! NOW IT'S TIME FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT!" she yelled, the ends of her hair forming a pair of shears, lunging directly for Chat. He managed to roll out of the way just in time, but another came from his other side, nicking his shoulder and barely missing Marinette on the way back. She stumbled and Chat tried again and again, attempting to cut and deflect the onslaught of hair coming towards him and Marinette.

Le Cheveulier kept up her attack, eventually grabbing hold of his staff, attempting to pry it free from his hands. Unfortunately for him with his tight grip on his baton, instead of pulling it away from him, he went flying straight for her.

"Looks like I can grab your miraculous for Hawkmoth and cut your stupid hair just like they had to do mine, so you'll know my pain. Then I'll move on to your pretty little friend over there, she seems like the type with wicked awful split ends." she said, a wicked smile spreading on her face while a piece of her hair lifted the hand with his ring on it up towards her. Marinette felt helpless as she watched her partner struggle against the unbreakable bonds the hair had made around him. She tried to pinpoint where the akuma was hiding, but nothing seemed to stand out to her except...

"Hey you!" Marinette called out. "Didn't you know that your hairstyle is so last year?"

Le Cheveulier snapped her head over to the girl and snarled. "Excuse me? My hair is PERFECT! AND PERFECT HAIR IS ALWAYS IN STYLE!"

Marinette threw a piece of rubble at her and Chat was momentarily forgotten about, giving him enough time to break free, unfortunately without his baton in hand. She rolled to avoid the hair that was shot towards her, trying to be a distraction long enough for Chat to get to the item.

"CHAT! It's in her hair band!" she called out to him. He looked from Marinette to le Cheveulier and grinned, using Marinette's distraction to get closer to her. Without his baton, he wouldn't be able to get close enough to her as easily though. He jumped onto her back and she screamed in fury, unable to see him, while her hair tried to get a hold of him. Between dodging her attacks and trying to stay on, Chat didn't have a way to get a hold of the item. There was no way he could do this on his own.

Marinette watched as he struggled, and in that moment, she steeled her resolve. "Chat! I need you to do the distracting for a moment! I'll... I'll get help!"

He glanced at her while she ran from the room, and she knew her sudden disappearance and Ladybug's appearance would not go unnoticed by him, and he would likely be upset with the knowledge that she had turned him down then led him on for as long as she did. But this was the only way for them to beat this akuma.

Once she was sure le Cheveulier couldn't see her anymore, Tikki flew out and straight into Marinette's Miraculous, transforming her into Ladybug.

"Lucky Charm!" she cried out. A hand vacuum fell into her palms and she stared at it in confusion for a second before a memory of her hair getting caught in a vacuum cleaner as a child flooded her thoughts. She smiled and ran into the dishevelled classroom where Chat was still successfully avoiding being caught by his assailant.

When he noticed her running in, his eyes widened, knowing that it was no coincidence she showed up the moment Marinette had left. She ran towards them and turned the vacuum on full power, pulling all the hair that had been flying around towards it. When le Cheveulier noticed, she tried to run away, Chat completely ignored in favour of trying to save herself. With her unable to move, chat pulled off the hair band and threw it at Ladybug. She snapped it in half and purified the akuma.

"Bye bye petit papillion!" she said, watching the white butterfly fly away. Throwing up the vacuum cleaner she cleaned up all the damage.

"What happened?" the girl who was once le Cheveulier asked. They two heroes noticed that she had a chunk of her hair missing, likely the reason the akuma had been attracted to her. "I remember I was at school... and then that stupid Charles put gum in my hair! Then everyone laughed when the teacher had to cut it out..."

Ladybug walked up to her and looked at the girls long brown hair. "Just think of it this way, now you can try out a whole new hairstyle!"

The girl smiled. "My mum wouldn't let me cut my hair, she says my long hair was too beautiful. I got upset cause I thought she'd get mad... You're right! Now I can have hair just like you Ladybug!"

"I'm sure your friends are worried about you. You should go tell them you're alright." Ladybug told her. The girl nodded and bounded out of the classroom.

Chat had been quiet the whole exchange with the girl and when Ladybug looked at him, he was back to being Adrien. She held her breath, wondering if he had noticed like she thought.

"Adrien I-" she started but he held up his hand, and walked out of the classroom.


	7. Chapter 7

Plagg watched incredulously as his charge walked out of the room, leaving a heartbroken looking Ladybug standing in the middle of the room. The transformation undid, leaving an equally heartbroken looking Marinette, eyes filling quickly with tears, and an angry looking Tikki floating next to her. The look the ladybug kwami was giving him conveyed enough for him to know he needed to catch up to Adrien right away.

"Adrien what do you think you're doing?" Plagg cried out, flying behind him down the empty hallway.

"I just... I need some time to think!"

Plagg scoffed. "Are you kidding me? Think about what? You don't know anything!"

"What I do know is that Marinette is Ladybug!"

"Do you? Are you sure about that? It could be a coincidence for all you know. You didn't even give her a chance to speak to you!"

"Is she?"

The question caught Plagg off guard and he faltered and he hesitated, giving Adrien all the answer he needed. He turned to leave again, but his kwami zipped in front of him before he could get very far.

"So what if she is? She had a good reason for not telling you, or else she would have. So why did you just leave her in there without any explanation?"

"It's not that I'm leaving her there, but it was kind of a surprise and I just need time to sort out my thoughts. I wanted to know who she was so badly I didn't actually think about how I'd feel when I finally did. I'm not upset that it's her but I need to figure out how I really feel about both sides of her before I talk to her about it."

Plagg sighed. "Cheese is never this confusing. But fine, go sort yourself out. I'll leave you alone."

Adrien smiled at him. Hands in his pockets, the boy walked slowly down the hall back to where people had started to meander back into the school. Plagg heard the noise of the crowd approaching and flew quickly back to where he had last seen Marinette and Tikki.

When he reached the classroom, he saw that Marinette had sat at one of the desks and was being consoled by her kwami. Knowing his news would likely make her feel better, he interrupted their conversation. Marinette raised her head when Tikki stopped talking to her.

"You must be Cha- _Adrien's_ kwami," was all she said.

"I'm Plagg. It's nice to meet you, although I wish it was under different circumstances." Marinette just looked up at him, eyes rimmed red from the crying she had likely been doing before he came in. "I just wanted you to know that he's not upset. He's just trying to figure everything out. He really does love you."

Tikki stared incredulously at her long time partner, as she had not seen him so sensitive about their charges feelings in some hundred years. Although she knew that these two in particular were very special to the both of them, and they were both very invested in their lives and feelings.

Marinette perked up at his last words however, and her face warmed up, a small smile ghosting across her lips. She went back to frowning quickly afterwards. "I get that much, but I just don't get why he left so suddenly. This is what he wanted, isn't it? To know who I am? Am I a disappointment?"

"Pfft! I wish that was the case. Not only has he been a lovesick fool over Ladybug for god knows how long, but the last couple of weeks have been even worse with him being guilty over falling for you when his 'heart belongs only to his lady' as he would put it."

The smile on Marinette's face returned in full force, her heart beating wildly knowing that's what Adrien thought of her. She seemed to be at war with herself for a moment before she made the decision to go find him.

She looked up at the small creatures and they both nodded at her. She stood up and ran to the door only stopping when she reached it to turn and say "Thank you Plagg," before racing down the hallway in search of her black cat.

The two kwami looked at each other once Marinette was gone and laughed.

Plagg looked over at his companion. "They're quite the pair aren't they?"

Tikki giggled and replied, "that's for sure! I'm honestly surprised that you would come back and tell her that though. I know these two are special but this is a step, even for you."

"I'm just sick of Adrien whining all the time. The last couple weeks have been particularly difficult. And I didn't even get extra cheese for it!"

"Do you think they're going to be alright?"

"Of course they are. They're Chat Noir and Ladybug, Paris' favorite akuma fighting duo. They're always going to be alright."

"When did you become such the optimist?" Tikki asked.

"I've been around you for thousands of years, some of your endless optimism must have rubbed off on me."

"It seems that this Chat Noir has changed you, I think."

Plagg rolled his eyes. "Him? He's just some dumb romantic kid."

"Whom you seem to have a great attachment to. We should go before someone comes in here. I'm pretty sure they're going to head back to Marinette's place after their talk since it's so close. I'm sure we can find you some cheesy bread without her parent's noticing."

Plagg flew into her and hugged her tightly. "You're the best! Let's get going!"

Marinette scoured the campus for Adrien and finally found him sitting in the school courtyard. He hadn't seen or heard her approach yet and she took a moment to notice how his brows were furrowed and sighed heavily before he seemed to gather himself up. He stood abruptly, startling Marinette who had made a move towards him, and it was her sharp yelp of surprised that alerted him to her presence. They both stared at each other, all the sounds and movement around them seemed to halt, and it was just the two of them for what seemed like hours.

The school bell rang shrilly, snapping them from their trance and Marinette did the only thing she could think of at the time - she laughed. Adrien looked at her, eyebrows raised, head cocked to the side in a very cat like motion, which only served to make her laugh harder. Adrien couldn't help but let out a giggle himself, which broke into a full out laugh, a feeling he had not had in quite a while.

When their laughter died down, Adrien moved towards her and spoke. "Mari, I'm so sorry I just left like that. It was just... surprising to find out that it was you but at the same time, I think I may have known all along. The similarities became too obvious. It wasn't fair of me to just leave without saying anything though."

Marinette shook her head. "I'm sorry too. I wanted you to either figure it out slowly on your own, or tell you in a much less dire setting. I was just so worried that you'd built up Ladybug so much that if you found out it was me right away you'd be disappointed... you're not are you?"

Adrien's jaw dropped. " _Of course I'm not!_ Marinette, I would never be disappointed it was you! If anything I couldn't imagine anyone else being Ladybug. Honestly, You were right to ask me to wait so I could try and figure it out. I'm sorry that all this ruined our dynamic, but when I found out you like Adrien, something in me couldn't help but tell you who I was. The fact you like both sides of me makes me more relieved than anything."

Marinette's eyes started to fill with tears again and lurched forward into him, hugging him and burying her face in his chest. He stiffened in shock but shortly relaxed, his arms wrapping around her while her shoulders shook again. He pet her head until she calmed down and she sighed in content. Looking up at him, she smiled shyly, a little embarrassed that his shirt was tear soaked, but he smiled back at her.

"Sorry," she said, wiping her eyes.

"No more apologies. Let's get you home."

"What about Tikki and Plagg?"

"Something tells me they've already left." Adrien smiled and led her in the direction of her house.

"Um, Adrien?"

"Yes?"

After a moment of silence she asked, "so... where does this leave _us_?"

Adrien took a moment to think, the bakery not more than a few feet away, and a very Chat like grin appeared on his face. He stopped right at the corner to turn around and face her, hands coming up to cup her face tenderly.

"May I kiss you, my lady?"

Her breathing may as well have stopped altogether, her face bursting into flames of red, but after looking at the sincerity in his eyes, she gave a small nod and he leaned down, kissing her softly. It was a light and quick kiss, but it left her a blushing, stuttering mess afterwards.

A noise of disgust came from Marinette's window, and they looked up to see Plagg's face scrunched up and Tikki smiling giddily. The two teenagers laughed and Marinette's confidence seemed to return to her.

"So that answers that. I guess that means you need to take me on a date."

"I'll pick you up at eight?"

Marinette smiled, and pulled him down to her for another kiss.


End file.
